Often times an important aspect of a surgical procedure is to pass suture through tissue. This could be required to mend a tear or connect two or more pieces of soft tissue. Though this task is common it can be challenging for the surgeon especially in an arthroscopic procedure where visualization is limited.
Many devices have been created to address difficult suturing scenarios but there are still certain procedures and anatomies where the average surgeon still struggles. For example, suturing the labrum at times can prove challenging particularly when the tissue is severely damaged. In such cases decreasing the overall profile of the feature penetrating the tissue and optimizing the working profile of the instrument to improve access to the working site can be critical factors to facilitate suturing.
Within this smaller needle profile, a mechanism must be housed that allows easy passing and retrieving of suture by the doctor in an arthroscopic atmosphere. With many devices currently on the market a very small loop of suture is provided during tissue passing such that the surgeon is challenged to hit the miniscule target and retrieve the suture.
A device is required that easily passes suture through tissue and provides a large amount of suture on the other side of the tissue that will be relatively easy for the surgeon to grab and pull out of the arthroscopic portal. This system must also be relatively simple so that the manufacturing cost can be kept at a reasonable level.